Time for a (Quick) Deep Cleaning... Neutrogena and Your Best Face to the Rescue

Sunday, December 05, 2010

Do you ever feel like no matter what you do, things are just a little bit... lackluster? Like your styling products are weighing your hair down more than usual, your skin isn't as glowy as it should be after that moisturizer or your pores are about to be filled to capacity? I have definitely been feeling like that lately. I'm sure the fact that I'm now about 6 1/2 weeks away from delivery (and hence, seem to need help even getting up from the sofa), doesn't really help the whole "not feeling quite like myself" situation.

Even though today was a work day, and hence I was a bit pushed for time in the shower, I decided to take matters a step further than usual and spend a whopping 2 extra minutes in the shower today and the difference was well worth the time. Read on to see what I did.First things first, I addressed my face. I did a deep clean with my Skin by Monica Refine Cleanser. I love this stuff, I put it on and concentrate on other things (actually, washing my hair and you know, washing the rest of my body). After about 2 minutes I can feel it working and I swear this stuff is just as good as using a mask. I love it.

Once I had deep cleaned, it was definitely time to clean things up a little further with exfoliation. You can exfoliate physically (scrub basically) or chemically. I've gone both ways in the past with great success, but during my pregnancy I definitely prefer the physical exfoliation route. It's hard to find a scrub I like. If you've not read my scrub reviews in the past, I'm super picky about scrubs. I was small, uniform and non-sharp grit. I want quite a bit of it to help keep the exfoliation even. I want it to be easy to rinse off as well. Surprisingly, it is hard to find a good scrub. This is a good one.

Prep is a new product from one of my favorite brands, Your Best Face. They've recently redone a few products and released this new scrub, Prep (I'm testing the other products now, a review will be coming soon, it will be good if you're thinking of placing an order), and I'm seriously in scrub love.

Prep scrub is very thick due to the high amount of grit in the scrub, and it is small, not sharp and evenly sized! (I'm swooning now!) The scrub is a light tan color and has a fresh citrus scent. There is a lot of grit so a small amount of scrub is all you need, I use an amount the size of about 2 large peas (I really can't describe it any better than that), and I can spread it around in a thin layer and scrub away. Like any physical scrub it's not a good idea to do this until your face is red and raw, but I typically scrub for a minute or minute and a half, concentrating on areas like my chin and t-zone. It rinses off easily and leaves me glowing!

I fully admit that part of the reason I finally realized I might be due for some intensive treatment was the bottle of Neutrogena Anti-Residue Shampoo that showed up at my house. I had somewhat forgotten about this product (it's been out for 30 years now, BTW), I haven't used it in years. The idea is that you can use it once a week as a break from your usual shampoo, removing any residue buildup. Can't you just use a different (normal) shampoo every now and then? I suppose, though I've been doing that recently (I have about 8 bottles of shampoo in my shower, so I've been grabbing random ones) and my hair was still feeling weighed down and sometimes even felt sticky from recent gel and hair spray. After washing. When I had purposely not applied product. That seems... not quite right.

Anyways, I decided to give this a shot this morning. The shampoo is pretty nice- it is clear (with a little bit of a yellow color), and even with my long thick hair I only use about the size of a silver dollar. It foams well, though I admit that I'm not a fan of the smell. It's always reminded me of the shampoo we used on my dog Laker when I was growing up. It definitely seems to have a little bit of a medicine leaning. The shampoo washes out easily and immediately I noticed a difference this morning. My hair felt different during the rinsing. Later during styling my hair dried more easily, had more volume and shine... the shampoo had helped my hair immensely!

I think in all I probably spent about 2 extra minutes on this routine between the quick facial scrub and remembering to use a different shampoo this morning. I felt shiney and new (though still very pregnant) when I emerged from the shower! Try shaking up your shower routine a little the week, I bet you'll notice a difference too.

3 comments

I have a giant size of the Neutrogena shampoo and my family complains so much about the smell it leaves behind that I think I'll have the full size bottle for eternity. I also haven't noticed a discernable change in my hair after its use but maybe it's time to plug the nose and give it another go.

I think I noticed such a change in my hair because I had so much residue. It was bad, I swear I could still feel the hair spray in my hair from 2 days before even after washing. Typically I don't have such a difference, but it had been a long time since using an anti-residue shampoo and simply swapping out my shampoo wasn't cutting it.

In order to help decrease the smell I do a second wash with a bare minimum of shampoo from another brand. I used my Abba Pure Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner, which is my current favorite, go-to in between product testings duo. They have a very light scent, maybe there's a bit of herbal minty-ness in it? Regardless, it seems to wipe out any residual smell on my hair at least.

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